Barito mouth headman

Who he is

Title

Harbour headman at the Barito and Martapura river mouths (title not known)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

The Barito appears as a name in the Nagarakretagama of 1365. The Banjar sultanate (sixteenth century) and the chronicle of Negara Dipa (a seventeenth-century text, the Hikayat Banjar) are later and are not evidence for 1200.

Overlord

None shown. The Zhufan zhi's list of Java's dependencies (about 1225) does not name the Barito; a Kediri claim on Banjarmasin is not shown for 1200.

What it holds

• The Barito and Martapura river mouths
• Passage to the diamond gravels and the Meratus foothills
• The Java Sea crossing from the south Bornean side

Allies and rivals

Java is the trading partner; the upriver Ngaju and Maanyan peoples (later names) supply goods. The Negara and Amuntai country inland is a separate question.

How things stand that morning

Not described for 1200.

Wealth

Diamonds, gold and forest goods. No figures.

Threats

• Raiders
• Shifting delta channels

Places of note

• Banjarmasin district: Barito and Martapura river mouths.
• Cempaka diamond fields: Diamond gravels worked by washing; the campaign board's Martapura field.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry id barito-mouth-banjar and martapura-diamonds are folded in. The question 'does Kediri's claim reach Banjarmasin' is answered: no source shows it for 1200; the Zhufan zhi list names Tanjungpura, Timor, Banggai and Maluku among Java's dependencies, not the Barito.

Evidence: A 1365 name, the geography and the diamond field; the campaign board marks it 'likely'.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Near land of a river mouth; the inland waterways are in the Negara record.